Reader Alert! False
information about me on the web: Some people who don't like
my view of religion have
been posting false statements about me on the web.
These statements include false claims about
my work, academic background, and beliefs. Here's
a link to a page
with some real
facts about me.

New release of book: A preliminary revised ebook edition of my old book
From Brain to Cosmos is available at this link.

New ebook: My new ebook, Where Reason Meets Poetry, is available
at this link. This ebook is a collection of papers and
other writings.

The most controversial
part of
my blog is The
Anti-Dawkins Papers, a set of posts critiquing
Richard Dawkins' atheistic book The God Delusion.
This
critique was not meant as a criticism of all forms
of atheism. I just wanted to point out the weaknesses in Dawkins' book.
After I posted this critique, a few of Dawkins' followers started
spreading false information about my background and work. Follow this link
to get the real information. (Incidentally, if you think I must be a
supernatural
theist because I disagree with Dawkins, you need to think again.
Read my other writings on religion before deciding what I believe.)

A PDF archive of my blogs is here. (I
don't update this very often, so refer to the live blogs for the newest
stuff.)

Online Papers and Essays

The list below gives links to the
papers and essays
on this site. All of these papers and essays are in HTML or PDF
formats. Writings too informal to be
papers are marked as "essay," "notes," or the like.

This list doesn't include the
papers I published in peer reviewed journals. For these, see the Publications
page. This list also doesn't include Sharlow's Scratchpad,
which is the area where I keep notes and drafts that are too tentative
for the main part of the site.

This site also contains a guide document
that summarizes my philosophical views and gives links to most of my
writings sorted by subject. That document is a good place to
start if you want to know what I've said about some
particular topic.

My book From Brain to
Cosmos explored some
philosophical questions about consciousness, time and existence from a
new vantage point. The book is now out of print. Most of it is
available on this site. Click here to
learn more.

In case you're wondering about my
background, I'm primarily
a chemical physicist by training (Ph.D. in chemistry with a
dissertation
in statistical thermodynamics), but most
of my research has been in philosophy. My dissertation research was in
an area of chemical physics with known
philosophical implications. Before my doctorate, I earned a bachelor's
degree
with a double major in physics and philosophy, followed by a masters'
degree in biochemistry. My research has been published
in peer reviewed journals in philosophy, physics and chemistry. Since I
received my Ph.D., I've been a college instructor, a scientific
computer programmer, and an independent
writer and scholar.